Barrier
by SomberLuminosity
Summary: While most battles waged on the ground between two visible, opposing sides, the absolute deadliest of wars was that of the mind. Concealed in doubt, the princess felt insecure in her fickle decision. How was she supposed to answer when there was no guarantee of freedom? Was fate always so cruel? T for safety.


**Hello again fellow readers.**

**I decided to write another one-shot in my quick spare time. I've hit writer's block again, and this is generally when I start typing up my lil' one-shots for you all. **

**This particlar one is centered a month after Twilight Princess Zelda has been captured in her own castle and being held hostage. This is just how I interpreted her thoughts, before Link and Midna came along.**

**With that said, this could be considered somewhat dark I guess. If you see any typos, I'd appreciate it if you'd shout 'em out in the review section so I can fix it. Thanks a bunch!**

***Note* This is MY interpretation of how Zelda feels/thinks. Please don't take it in the game's context fashion. I merely thought this up.**

* * *

She stared out the iron laced window with longing.

Trepidation was forever an incessant companion. It felt as though her life dwelled upon the sole definition of fear.

Was there really no end to the madness that besought this once peaceful land?

Zelda huddled closer to the barrier between her and freedom. She hugged her arms underneath the heavy, royal mourning cloak she wore as her sapphire eyes swept the outskirts of her castle.

Her home.

Had it only been a month prior that her life engaged with the ruthless terror? Had her defenses truly been broken down by a mere flick of the enemy's torturous hand?

Had she really surrendered all forethoughts of hope?

The princess buried her face into the hood of her robe. No, she mustn't believe such profanity. Her people may have been shed of innocent blood, and her castle may have become a sanctuary of darkness, but there would never be an impending doom of complete failure.

There couldn't be.

They had the goddesses to protect them, didn't they? Surely, the mercies of Din, Nayru, Farore, and Hylia would shower them in a turbulence of grace. Zelda's ancestors of old would not abandon them.

But if that was so, where were they?

Zelda scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. She would, by no means, ever doubt the power of the goddesses. The royal blood of her closest, Hylia, flowed through her veins.

However, the princess could not recall a time she had ever felt more alone than as of now.

She felt as though life were a child's top, and she would spin out of control until her balance was forever lost and she and her people were crashed into oblivion.

A shiver spread down her back, despite the cheery fire burning to the left of the room in the marble fireplace. The fire danced a light in her eyes as she stared at the cackling, consuming mass.

How similar the flames looked to those that had charred the southern portion of the castle days ago. The greedy fire had licked clean the devoted dedication to her proud parents.

The entire hall had been adorned with family heirlooms passed down through the generations, and hundreds of portraits of both the king and queen, and the entire royal family line.

Zelda remembered prancing through the hallway with glee as a little girl. She had gazed upon those memories of her beloved past in awe. The faces of her family displayed ones of pride and honor.

Hylia's had to have been the grandest of them all.

The painting had encased a woman, with golden hair flowing elegantly down her shoulders as she sat daintily in a simple, wooden chair. Her hands rested in the lap of her white dress, and the Hero of the Sky stood tall behind her. One hand lay on the back of the chair while the other gently gripped the goddess's right shoulder.

Together, they made a beautiful couple.

Their legend had been even more magnificent. The bedtime stories the young princess had listened to every night had quickly become a favorite, as they were memorized word for word.

Zelda had become unequivocally addicted to her ancestors' history. Her father had often praised her for the vast amounts of knowledge she consumed from the time she could read.

But now, that was all gone. There were no beautiful portraits of Zelda's ancestors. No more gallant swords that were once wielded by her great grandfathers. Of course, the true Master Sword lay protected in the Sacred Grove to prevent thievery.

The princess clung to the final hope that one day, another chosen hero would arise to awaken the sword and slay the foul evil that plagued Hyrule.

Oh yes, she had heard the stories.

The legends that told of a simple boy who crossed the brink from death unto life. The tales that prophesied that an unknown warrior would stir the unbreakable spirit from within its slumber to vanquish, to conquer.

The stories that had been her childhood fantasies when she knew no such thing as a living evil.

Zelda sighed quietly as she looked back toward the twilight that enveloped the land outside. She was certain that if her own fanciful imagination did not bloom into a reality, then there would be no chance of regaining of the throne. Her kingdom would never again know light, and very soon they would evolve into the Twilight creatures themselves.

The Triforce of Wisdom glowed dimly in the hovering dark of the room. Zelda sneezed lightly as the collecting dust itched her nose.

She wished desperately for an escape.

There must be some way for her to fight through the guards. If only she could reach the stone gate outside the castle that tauntingly beckoned her. Perhaps she could slip by, unnoticed, and ride a horse to the nearest province that hadn't yet been consumed by Zant's tyranny. As the princess, she could appeal to the light guardians in hopes of establishing a connection to the goddesses above.

Or maybe, she should try to run the risk of contacting the Twilight princess. It would cost her greatly to remain undetected by the shadow beasts that roamed the realm ceaselessly. But Princess Midna would surely help Hyrule regain its dominion. She could command authority over the Twilight beasts.

Unless, it was the Twili princess behind this whole catastrophe. Had Zelda unknowingly rivaled her in some way to preform this high of a degree? Had shadow renounced the pact of alliance with light?

The Hyrulian princess groaned aloud as she rubbed her aching temples.

As she comforted an approaching headache, she gazed worriedly out over the land she once governed.

Was Hyrule at fault?

Zelda was unsure of what could have unsettled the realm of Twilight. However, she quickly ended her foolish thoughts as she realized Midna may have nothing to do with this.

If her longtime friend had been responsible for the sudden overtake, why was it not her leading the masquerade? Why would Zant claim dominance over the throne?

The possibility of a greater evil leading the Twili as a mere shell of itself was also incredibly high.

Zelda held out her gloved hand as she looked down upon her shard of the Triforce. If this wasn't a fight for revenge, then was power the reasoning behind the usurping of the dwellers of light?

She didn't know whether to believe her own recourse, but as Zelda stood rigidly by the window, her silence was broken by the sound of a metal bolt sliding unlocked.

The penetrating creak of an iron door swinging open on its hinges rang from the bottom of the stairwell just outside her bedroom chamber.

Zelda closed her eyes as she anticipated the routine security check of the Twili guards that came on an hourly basis. Their intentions kept things from both leaving and entering, Her Majesty included.

She was tired of the usual checkups by Zant's followers for it kept her from resting on her bed. She dreaded sleep, as though the creatures would most certainly kill her if she were caught defenseless.

Only when her eyes had shut unwillingly from exhaustion had she surrendered to blissful unconsciousness. And despite the times she would wake from a fitful rest unharmed, her mind caused a mirage of luck being the only reason she still lived.

Her thinking was foolhardy, she knew, but it could not prevent the paranoia that seeped through her being.

Unexpectedly, as the approaching footfalls of the Twili beasts drew closer, a figurative door opened to Zelda's eye. It was as if a light had cracked through a dark cave which was her thoughts.

She shook her head as she suddenly realized that her continuous and depressing rationalization of what was possibly Hyrule's darkest hour was not benefitting her country in any way.

Here she was, moping the loss of her precious home, while her people's blood was being mercilessly spilt.

Zelda smoothed the front of her robe and stood taller from her slouched position as she awaited the arrival of the guards.

She had utterly wasted her time of imprisonment in this castle, indulging in selfish pity for herself while she could have been concurring ways to breach the front walls of bondage.

_Not anymore_, she thought as she stared stiffly at the front door of her bedroom.

She would pray to the goddesses for the hero she _knew_ they would awaken, and she would stop this nonsense from terrorizing her like a cornered puppy.

Zelda balled her hands into fists beneath her cloak. She would not expose the frightened, little girl inside of herself; not if she could help it.

And she'd be damned if she dare let some measly shadow dwellers prevent her kingdom from salvation of this wretched nightmare.

Zelda prepared herself as the twisting echo of the knob on her door filtered throughout the room. Her very being pulsed with determination as she readied to face the evil that yearned to douse her flame of will.

She narrowed cold, blue eyes.

_Not anymore._


End file.
